new to board and new to vegan!

Hi all. I've been vegetarian for five years and became vegan on my 29th birthday about a month ago.

I am 5'10, 140lbs and would like to....

1. Gain mass!

2. Lose my gut (too many donuts/chip-eating over the years--- in the photos below, it doesn't look like I have one... but I do, especially if I lean over or if I'm sitting).

3. Lose the excess body fat

I want to basically look like Edward Norton when he was in American History X. I have the same body type as him in Fight Club (less ripped really) but I want that American History X body.

I try to take in 3000 calories a day or more but it's hard. Usually I can only get in about 1700 on average. And like 75 grams of protein when I want to get 200. And weight gainer shakes don't work because there is too much sugar in them (goes right to my belly).

I work nights, so I work out at like 10am usually... can't afford a gym membership so I do it oldschool in my apartment's basement (have a bench that can incline, and a bar, a couple dumbbells and a lot of weight plates)... I work from 3-1am (long shifts but off on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays).

I would like some good, solid advice on helping me gain mass and good abs. I have always been skinny, but somewhat toned. I want to be big though, not like huge but definitely solid and noticable especially with a shirt off.

There's a quote in the film American Beauty that states "I wanna look good naked!" when Kevin Spacey's character is asking his gay neighbors what he needs to do to look better. That's basically what I want-- I want to look good naked!

So yeah... any help would greatly be appreciated. You guys and girls seem really nice on the boards (I've been reading through posts for a few hours)... and I contacted one of the members-- Topher (V VII Hero).. he told me some good vegan nutrition stuff... but I don't know.. I need solid, solid advice... a good routine.

Right now, I comfortably bench press about 70 pounds, 3 sets of 10.... and then incline, 3 sets of 8... with a little strain... yeah I know, it's low... but that's why I need to build up. So hopefully this will give you all an idea of my strength (or lack thereof).

I have an extremely high metabolism... I have basically weighed 130-140 for the last 10 years. And that's with working out and trying to gain mass... though sometimes I've been sporadic with it (the whole lack of motivation thing) but I need to stay motivated. I want to be ripped and looking great by winter 2005... just a personal goal... so, thank you for any help you guys and girls can provide!

Attached below are photos of me today, before working out... just my regular body.

welcome.

I think your main focus right away is to gain a lot of mass! When I started lifting a year ago we looked a lot a like. I have put on about 20 lbs of muscle since then and look a whole lot different.

Hard work is the way to go! If you have any questions about lifting please let us all know...

p.s. good job on the vegan transformation, i just did the same thing!

Hello bcmusic,

Welcome to this forum. Seeing that you onmly have a 70 lb bench press, you can opt on push ups with weights on your back. That is one thing that popped out from what you were saying. See in order to gain muscle, you need to introduce it into stress that it normally wouldnt be under.

1. Gain Mass - You need to do more weight than you do normally. Also the diet is very important because to bulk you need to consume more calories than you take in.

2. Lose my gut - You lose the fat in reverse order. So if you gained the fat in your stomach first, that will be the last to be lost. Generally in a bulk you will gain fat but there are ways to minimize it as much as possible.

3. Lose the excess body fat - If you want to gain mass and lose excess body fat you will see that it may contradict each other. It is possible but it will be slower than a normal bulk since you want both.

As for eating, you can prolly sneak in a few snacks (apple, etc) while on duty. Also right when you wake up, you should have breakfast and not skip it (not sure if you are or not).

The gym is very helpful but is definitly not required. However once all the weights you have become really easy, youll either need to get more weight or get some sort of gym membership. Some gyms gives discounts if you go with a friend.

Feel free to ask any questions.

hey skip. good talking to ya on aim. welcome to the boards.

good talkin to you too topher.... definitely need some more advice from ya whenever you get some free time.

thanks to everyone and their advice.... i realize i can't lose the fat til i gain the mass.... i guess more importantly i want the mass than lose my gut... but, after i get my mass, will i be able to get a six-pack? i hope so.

tired.... i'll reply more later on. but thanks again for the warm welcome and the advice!

thanks to everyone and their advice.... i realize i can't lose the fat til i gain the mass.... i guess more importantly i want the mass than lose my gut... but, after i get my mass, will i be able to get a six-pack? i hope so.

 

tired.... i'll reply more later on. but thanks again for the warm welcome and the advice!

 

-skip

Yes you can. Bodybuilders and other sports people work in cycles. For example, one cycle may be for strength, and the next for cutting up. 1 lb of Muscle burns about 35 calories while 1 lb of fat burns 2 calories. So as you gain mass, you'l gain a bit of both but when you cut up it should be really easy compared to before.

Hey Skip,

Welcome to the group! Great to have you here. I'll post my 2 cents soon. I've gotta leave to run some errands now, but but Topher and I went from pretty skinny and scrawney physiques to muscular ones. I also just won a bodybuilding contest as a vegan athlete, so great results are easily attainable with hard work and then you can "look good naked!"

We've got some great people on here from a variety of sports and nutrition backgrounds so I'm sure we'll all be able to help out a bit and you'll be on your way to being huge and shredded.

Hey gang....

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

Ok.... since I posted last, I've been trying to gain a lot by eating a lot, as suggested by everyone. I've been eating relatively healthy... sandwiches with veggie lunchmeat (the IVES stuff).. i'm not a strict vegan.. so if something has egg in the ingredients i'm not going to freak out... but for the most part i try to buy fully vegan stuff.. sometimes the selection is very slim though, where i buy groceries.

so yeah... veggie lunchmeat sandwiches (on italian bread)... vegan cheese on some of the sandwiches (most of the time it's just the fake turkey or fake bologna....) tortilla chips with each sandwich usually... veggie burgers, etc. and i drink a lot of water and sweetened iced tea (not in the can-- the lipton just add water stuff... i love that stuff).

right now i'm pulling in about 2600 calories a day. my goal is 3500 but it's hard to do that.

i have been working out steadily... but when i sit on my bench and do my preacher curls, i look down and there's my gut, seemingly bigger than ever. haha.

i know it's hard to get rid of stomach fat but i definitely need to get rid of it. am i going about things the right way? gaining a lot of mass by eating all day?

i do 2 sets of 20 sit-ups after my lifting session, which is 4 times a week with a day of rest after 2 days of lifting... and then two days rest after the second 2 days of lifting.

any advice is always appreciated.... i'm new to the vegan bodybuilding thing... i just hate my damn gut. everything else is looking pretty good though, my pecs and stuff are getting there... arms definitely, too. it's hard to work my legs on the bench i have, but i do what i can (can't do squats... everything's set up where i'd hurt myself if i pull the bar off the bench to do squats.) i do other stuff though, like calf raises and lunges and stuff like that.

thanks guys and girls!

Hey gang....

 

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

 

Ok.... since I posted last, I've been trying to gain a lot by eating a lot, as suggested by everyone. I've been eating relatively healthy... sandwiches with veggie lunchmeat (the IVES stuff).. i'm not a strict vegan.. so if something has egg in the ingredients i'm not going to freak out... but for the most part i try to buy fully vegan stuff.. sometimes the selection is very slim though, where i buy groceries.

 

so yeah... veggie lunchmeat sandwiches (on italian bread)... vegan cheese on some of the sandwiches (most of the time it's just the fake turkey or fake bologna....) tortilla chips with each sandwich usually... veggie burgers, etc. and i drink a lot of water and sweetened iced tea (not in the can-- the lipton just add water stuff... i love that stuff).

 

right now i'm pulling in about 2600 calories a day. my goal is 3500 but it's hard to do that.

 

i have been working out steadily... but when i sit on my bench and do my preacher curls, i look down and there's my gut, seemingly bigger than ever. haha.

 

i know it's hard to get rid of stomach fat but i definitely need to get rid of it. am i going about things the right way? gaining a lot of mass by eating all day?

 

i do 2 sets of 20 sit-ups after my lifting session, which is 4 times a week with a day of rest after 2 days of lifting... and then two days rest after the second 2 days of lifting.

 

any advice is always appreciated.... i'm new to the vegan bodybuilding thing... i just hate my damn gut. everything else is looking pretty good though, my pecs and stuff are getting there... arms definitely, too. it's hard to work my legs on the bench i have, but i do what i can (can't do squats... everything's set up where i'd hurt myself if i pull the bar off the bench to do squats.) i do other stuff though, like calf raises and lunges and stuff like that.

 

thanks guys and girls!

 

-skip

You will probably notice a little fat gain in your gut from bulking and trust me it will go away when you start cutting. Here are my suggestions from what I read.

Try to add some other abs excercises that will also work your obliques. It is nice to do define the whole are around your belly.

Make sure you are eating a lot of protien and carbs especially right after you work out and right before bed.

Trust me, all your work will be worth the effort!!!

Hi Skip,

Okay I know nothing about being a man and wanting to be a bigger man because I am a woman and have never wanted to be bigger.

But you seem to be determined to get rid of your "gut." So here is some solid and sound advice with respec to losing ab fat.

You cannot pick and choose where you want to lose fat. In order to lose stomach fat, you must lose fat in general - i.e. lower your body fat percentage. You can do a million properly executed crunches a day, with perfect form, but if you have a layer of fat covering your strong ab muscles, then you simply will not be able to see your ab definition, no matter how deep that definition is. The key to very defined abs is a low body fat percentage. As somebody I know (Pat Simard) once said, think of the fat on your body as piles of snow. When the summer comes and the snow (i.e. fat) starts melting, the smaller piles will melt away first, and the biggest pile of snow will take the longest to melt away. if your stomach is your biggest pile of snow, then it may be the last pile that melts. In short, you want abs, cut your body fat by doing SMART cardio (i.e. keeping your heart rate in the proper range), and of course work your abs. In my opinion, some of the best ab exercises are the good ol' fashioned ones that require no gadgets. Like floor crunch, maybe with a dumbell held beneath your chin, reverse crunches, and leg lifts. Perform these slowly, with 100 % concentration and focus, exhaling to get a good squeeze of the abs, and feel the burn.

That is as far as my advice can go because like I said, I cannot speak to the rest of your goals (i.e. putting weight ON). Somebody else will have to pick up where I have left off.